


Even if I die

by heavensweetheart



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Love, POV First Person, POV Zuko (Avatar), The Last Agni Kai (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:22:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29392629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavensweetheart/pseuds/heavensweetheart
Summary: Zuko is a focused person who still struggles to process emotions, but he can't keep the emotions from coming and changing rapid-fire during the last Agni Kai with his sister.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Even if I die

**Author's Note:**

> Can you tell this was prompted by a crosstagger on Tumblr?
> 
> Just another one of those that tried to diminish Zuko's sacrifice for Katara, so I decided to write the last Agni Kai from his POV. Originally, I was going to make it a one-shot until the lightning strikes, but then I thought posting that would be TOO cruel, so I decided to make it one or two more chapters for when he is wounded and watching Katara fight.

**Zuko**

“No lightning today?”

I feel the fire’s heat around me. Mine, and Azula’s, and all our flames crashing and creating a greater inferno. It is consuming the walls, the pillars, the towers, the palace, the entire city.

In a way, I feel guilty about it. (I was supposed to stop my father and sister’s destructive actions, not contribute to the damage.)

In some other way… I feel nothing.

(What other options do I have to stop Azula, of all people?)

That strange sensation I felt from her earlier has grown since the Agni Kai started. It is making her more savage, feral, and it is… corroding her.

Her stance, her movements, even the way her gaze focuses… they are off. It gives the impression her moves are only thoughtless, instinctive spasms. And she is digging her nails in whatever share of control she has left to restrain them.

(Funny, that reminds me of that time she scratched my forehead.)

“What’s the matter?” I press, doing my best to restrain my own anger. (I can’t be angry right now. This is not a time for anger.) “Afraid I’ll redirect it?”

_This is a time for balance._

It is only for a brief second, but her eyes settle uninterruptedly on me, and as improbable as it is, they transmit a lifetime of hate. “Oh, I’ll show you lightning!”

At another time, I would think _Why did I ever do to make you hate me so much?_

Maybe I wasn’t a good brother. Maybe I didn’t care about her as much as I should have.

Maybe all that has happened is my fault.

_Maybe…_

_But this is not a time for remorse either._

Azula’s lightning begins at her core and she struggles to make it course through the rest of her body. I can hear her grunts and complaints.

I just breathe.

 _This is a time for balance_ , I repeat.

Azula finally gathers her lightning bolt in her fingertips.

_This is a time for justice._

Her eyes make another shift too subtle for me to tell in what direction in specific, and then… she smiles.

Cruelly.

And she shoots the lightning to my side, almost over my shoulder.

_What…_

I turn my head just the slightest, and the first glance I catch through the corner of my healthy eye is a blurry silhouette with blue clothes.

_Katara._

I run.

I will redirect the lightning bolt. I am still in time, I know that I am. I know that I _can_ be if I only rush fast enough!

I _have_ to be fast enough!

_No._

I will redirect it. Somehow. Just somehow, and just enough away from Katara. Just enough!

_No._

Azula. She did this on purpose.

She attacked my weakness. She doesn’t only wants to see me die, she wants to see me _suffer_! 

She wants to inflict me pain, she wants me to be afraid, she wants me gone only after I feel those emotions thoroughly so she shot _straight_ to my heart!

 _No_ , I repeat inside my head _._

_No._

“ _No!_ ”

The lightning strikes directly on my sternum.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!! And if you'd like to know ways to help me keep writing, please, please, **PLEASE** see the pinned post on my Tumblr page: https://heavensweetheart.tumblr.com


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